EDITORIAL: A fairer process

Taxpayers are not being well-served by the processes used when public employees are accused of crimes or other actions that may make them unsuitable for continued government service.

We understand that the accused are to be considered innocent until ---- and unless ---- proven guilty, or in cases of noncriminal accusations, until a full and fair investigation has been conducted. We are not suggesting the law be changed to allow people to be fired simply because a complaint is lodged; that would be unjust in the extreme.

But too often during a lengthy investigation, the accused employee continues to pull down a salary and benefits without providing any legitimate service to the public that pays for that compensation.

It only makes sense, for example, that a teacher be removed immediately from the classroom if credible evidence of child abuse is uncovered.

But paying the accused a full salary and benefits to sit at home, and then paying a replacement to do the work that the accused would normally be doing, is an awfully expensive proposition.

The same goes when law officers are accused of wrongdoing ---- as is currently the case with two Border Patrol officers on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of their trial on public lewdness charges.

When criminal charges or lesser administrative complaints are lodged that require employees to be immediately removed from their normal positions, we believe that every effort should be made to find meaningful, necessary work for them to do.

There is no reason a teacher accused of misconduct can't assist the landscaping crews away from students, for instance, while the investigation or trial proceeds. Police officers involved in shootings are routinely assigned to administrative duties ---- helping out with the mountains of paperwork that a modern bureaucracy generates ---- while an investigation is conducted. Why can't this be the norm in all public agencies?

However, if the accused are later convicted or otherwise found liable, the agency should be able to recoup any salary or benefits paid from the point the leave began up to the point they are fired for cause.